Skinput makes you the keyboard

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Posted on 22 Mar 2010 at 09:24

The future of mobile device input could lie on your skin, if work being carried out by Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft's research arm bears fruit.

The aptly-named Skinput device is a keyboard which uses the variation in sound when different sections of skin are tapped to detect where an impact hasoccurred - and, when coupled with a portable micro-projector, allows for a wearable computing system that needs no more than a bare arm or hand as its keyboard.

Described over on ExtremeTech as still being very much in the experimental stages, the joint venture between Carnegie Mellon's Chris Harrison and Desney Tan and Dan Morris of Microsoft Research represents one of the ways future portable devices could ditch the traditional hand-held form factor.

Granted, the device isn't exactly compact at the moment - using, as it does, a bulky armband fitted with hundreds of vibration sensors to pick up the acoustic signature of each tap of the user's finger - and does have a tendency to lose its accuracy over time, requiring a five-minute training phase to get it back on track, but as a concept device it certainly shows promise.

With other companies looking towards wearable computing as the next big leap forward - including Apple - it's clear that the keypad, and possibly even the touch screen, could soon seem as old-fashioned as the typewriter.

Author: Gareth Halfacree

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